Monthly Archives June 2016

On Wednesday June 15 , the White House announced that First Lady Michelle Obama, her mother Mrs. Marian Robinson and her teenage daughters Malia and Sasha will visit Liberia at the end of this month. The trip comes as a part of the First Lady’s “Let Girls Learn” global initiative.

In Liberia, the First Lady will visit a Peace Corps Training Facility in Kakata, where she will meet with girls and young women participating in a GLOW (Girls Leading Our World) Camp. Her visit will highlight both the Peace Corps’ work to help girls in under served communities build self-confidence, communication, and other leadership skills and new programming from the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) aimed at improving access to quality education and life skills for adolescent girls across Liberia.

Also in Liberia, the First Lady will visit a school in Unification Town for a discussion with adolescent girls who have faced serious obstacles in attaining an education. This discussion will be moderated by actress Freida Pinto, an advocate for girls’ education. The conversation will highlight both the educational barriers girls face as Liberia moves beyond the Ebola epidemic, and the U.S. Government’s efforts to continue to address those barriers and provide adolescent girls with equitable access to safe and quality education. President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf will join Mrs. Obama during her visit. The First Lady’s events in Liberia will take place on June 27, the White House said.

The First Lady and her family also plan on visiting Morocco and Spain during the global initiative tour.

At the same time, the University Consortium for Liberia’s (UCL) CFO Saki Golafale will be in Liberia promoting UCL’s collaborative learning initiative and chemistry discussions. Read more about his trip on Global Atlanta’s webpage.

On Friday June 17, Global Atlanta featured an article about UCL Chief Financial Officer and PhD candidate Saki Golafale. Right now, Saki is in Liberia campaigning for the UCL and giving back to Liberian chemistry students with his ChemTalk lecture. As a former UCL student, after he receives his PhD in chemistry from Clark Atlanta University, Saki must return to Liberia and teach for two years.

The article states:

When Saki T. Golafale had the chance to address an education and business conference four years ago at the University of Liberia in Monrovia, Liberia, he took full advantage to decry the lack of laboratories, equipment and textbooks at his alma mater blocking his efforts to further his chemistry studies.

Liberia was still getting over decades of civil wars that claimed the lives of hundreds of thousands of Liberians, and the ebola crisis still hadn’t taken hold.

Click here to continue reading about how Saki became involved with the UCL and to learn more about his trip to Liberia.

University Consortium for Liberia

The University Consortium for Liberia (UCL) provides student scholarships, faculty and student exchanges, study abroad experiences, and service learning opportunities between Liberia and partner member organizations around the world!

Our mission is to help provide brighter futures through education and understanding.